jdarwin

From the June Record at Cottonwood....

68" yellow. 6.944 / 2.455 / .744 / 7 deg. 30.25" binding. Two sets on the ski. These numbers work extremely well for me. Ski is comfortable, predictable and consistent. It creates fantastic space ahead of the buoy. It turns very similar to the Quest but protects width off the second wake much better. No matter how hard I turn the ski it maintains speed out of the buoy and doesn't stick - like my XTM does. The cross course speed requires significantly less effort. It rewards good technique but doesn't punish you for a mistake. It feels like it's working with me and never against me.

"Traveling across country for 1 ride is whacky". BINGO!!!

+1 for Cypress. Without question, one of my favorite sites. The people are great and the number of houses per lake makes it very easy to get all the skiing you want. If I had to choose to leave my little slice of heaven, Cypress would be my #1 choice. And, unlike some remote communities, you have access to all that Houston has to offer culturally - quality of life issue.

Tournament Best 2@39 - didn't run 38 until I was 52 (almost 20 year struggle). Ran it in tournaments twice more since. The latest being last August - age 54.

My first year in M3 at Regionals (early 2000's) we had 85. Over 400 skiers total. I count 171 TOTAL skiers for 2016 regionals.

@34mph - 2016 is night and day difference. @skidawg can hook you up!!

Just keep them out of the sun. UV is the biggest issue. We hang ours in the shop and rotate them into club use after one season (6 tournaments). The biggest issue over time is they can become like steel cables and that's where elbow issues begin to appear.

@dbutcher - without question, their is a recognition of the past support but the current system (requirements) are not aligned with current reality. And, I don't believe the support of 3E vs wake boats is a zero sum game. If the towboat manufacturers continue to influence the current year +1 rule via their financial support of USAWS, the # of tournaments will continue to decline. As an LOC, I'm being held hostage by the Big 3 due to the fact that the "current +1" rule is "bought" at the governing body level yet their "support" of the promo programs is not sufficient to support the rule. Those two initiatives need to be aligned.

@klindy - I do not foresee a reversal of fortune in the promo world. It's simply too expensive and time consuming for most with no discernable ROI . The ONLY solution is to allow the use of any previously approved towboat that has an approved speed control. Period.

@klindy - Keith, I agree with your points. My biggest issue with USAWS vs IWWF is towboats. As an LOC that hosts four ELR tournaments per year, the technical requirements, site prep, etc., is not the issue. It's towboats. I can pull a world record with my 08 Ski Nautique if I resided in Spain. But not in the US. As the availability of promo boats continues to shrink significantly, we (AWSA) need to align our towboat requirements with IWWF. It doesn't create a level playing field when individual countries (federations) apply different standards to their "L" tournaments. That was my main point. Oh, and using boat video for judging.....another "standard" that is applied differently around the globe. Don't get me started....

David: Not sure you can merge rulebooks to accomplish your objective. But, I believe AWSA should simply have a "Class C" rule book and leave the rest to IWWF. AWSA doesn't need to be in the "Record" business. They make it WAY to complicated and restrictive. Towboats being the #1 issue.

Move south!!

@OB1 - skidawg will get you dialed in...

I just bought a replacement liner (tour pro) for less than $70 shipped from Fluid Motion.

Cool! I'm sandbagging this year in preparation for 2017!!

"I’ve undergone a complex personal evolution wherein painful confusion has given way to what I like to think is some degree of wisdom culminating in my current Zarathustrian sense of self..."

@Zog - 68" is the ticket. Get in touch with @skidawg - he can help you out!!

@skidawg - 3 weeks......

@Orlando76 - that is a service call FedEx Smartpost. It travels in the FedEx network to your "local" USPS DDU - then, injected into the postal network for ultimate delivery. All that roundabout was probably the USPS system - not FedEx. It's a 5-8 day transit time. UPS version is call SurePost. Same theory.

@Orlando76 - that is a service call FedEx Smartpost. It travels in the FedEx network to your "local" USPS DDU - then, injected into the postal network for ultimate delivery. All that roundabout was probably the USPS system - not FedEx. It's a 5-8 day transit time. UPS version is call SurePost. Same theory.

U People Suck destroys as much or more than FedEx. Their hubs are notorious. I'm in the business - I hear the stories. But for the most part, they both do a tremendous job considering the volumes going thru their respective systems. They both tend to screw their customers on price/accessorials. But, that's just part of the game. "Most Fedex drivers are independent contractors.." Only some of the ground drivers. Express drivers are all employees.

U People Suck destroys as much or more than FedEx. Their hubs are notorious. I'm in the business - I hear the stories. But for the most part, they both do a tremendous job considering the volumes going thru their respective systems. They both tend to screw their customers on price/accessorials. But, that's just part of the game. "Most Fedex drivers are independent contractors.." Only some of the ground drivers. Express drivers are all employees.

We now use boat video for judging tricks exclusively = no shore judges. Oh, and if you happen to set a world record in slalom, guess what they use to confirm....wait for it......boat video. Hmmmmm. But it doesn't make sense to use it to judge a 28=off pass. Clever.

We now use boat video for judging tricks exclusively = no shore judges. Oh, and if you happen to set a world record in slalom, guess what they use to confirm....wait for it......boat video. Hmmmmm. But it doesn't make sense to use it to judge a 28=off pass. Clever.